Purslane Restaurant is run by head chef and owner, Paul Gunning, who is proud to lead a team that serves a varied menu of modern British dishes geared towards casual fine dining and intense, high-quality flavour. Paul has worked all around the world, from Australia and London to Brittany and of course, Edinburgh.
The seven-course tasting menu is truly a feast for the senses. First up, it's the scallops a la plancha with sweetcorn puree and a sweetcorn and spring onion salsa, marinated with dashi. The celeriac risotto follows, made with roasted celeriac sauteed with wild mushrooms and pickled enoki mushrooms. The roast breast of pigeon is paired with haggis, artichoke bavarois and pickled vegetables, and is shortly followed by the steamed cod with vegetable spaghetti, roasted peanuts and cashews, and a Thai green curry sauce.
If the dishes so far weren't rich enough, next up is a roast loin of venison with braised venison haunch bon bon, fondant potato, cauliflower puree, roasted cauliflower, quinoa and a red wine jus. The cheese course includes a selection of cheeses from I.J. Mellis, served with biscuits and chutney, while dessert arrives as an apple and blackberry compote with a vanilla panna cotta, blueberry gel, crumble and blueberry sorbet.
The lunch menu begins with three starter choices – braised lamb with Scotch broth and haggis bon bon, salmon a la plancha with gruyere cake, and butternut squash veloute with sage ravioli. Elsewhere, the menu offers a choice of guineafowl, hake, and artichoke risotto mains before finishing up a vanilla and rum poached pineapple dessert or a selection of cheeses. You’ll also find a remarkably affordable wine pairing on offer too, so you can get the full experience at a fraction of the dinner menu cost.